Opponents say the measure would weaken Oakland's ability to maintain peace in neighborhoods where young men often lose their lives over drug sales. Most of the 72 homicides recorded this year were drug-related, police said.

Beyond making pot enforcement the lowest police priority, Measure Z would require the city to lobby the state to legalize adult marijuana use and allow local government to tax the drug. If marijuana use ever becomes legal, Measure Z would require Oakland to develop a plan for licensing and taxing its sale, use and cultivation.

In a September poll commissioned by the measure's backers, 65 percent of 400 likely voters said they probably would vote for Measure Z, and 70 percent of respondents supported legalization.

"Oakland voters clearly understand the war on drugs has been a failure and detrimental to our community," said Judy Appel, staff attorney with the Drug Policy Alliance Network. "Criminalizing marijuana has unfairly imprisoned thousands of nonviolent offenders, including a disproportionate number of people of color. Meanwhile, our police are wasting time and energy they could be using to focus on violent crime."

But opponents say Measure Z will only increase Oakland's reputation for crime. They note that suburbanites already come to Oakland to by drugs. Svea O'Banion, a native of Germany who lives on a Fruitvale District street that's seen three drug-related homicides this year, said drug legalization worked in Europe but Oakland, with its violent drug wars, is the wrong place to experiment with it in America.

"I for one do not want to be a guinea pig," she said. "Oakland simply does not have the luxury to volunteer their town as a test case for the big social experiment. And of course, the brunt of the new measure will mostly impact citizens in the flatlands and already-destitute neighborhoods."

If Measure Z passes, it could be tied up in court challenges. The city attorney already has ruled that some of its provisions appear to be unconstitutional.

Much of the initial impact of Measure Z will be symbolic. Police Chief Richard Word, who opposes the measure, said private marijuana use is -- by necessity -- already a low priority, because officers are busy fighting violent crime and arresting street-level drug dealers. Police said that although marijuana users are largely nonviolent, dealers have been known to shoot one another over lucrative drug turf.

Cannabis advocates said the war on drugs, particularly marijuana, has been a costly distraction for law enforcement, which should instead focus on protecting people from violence and property from theft. They cite FBI statistics that show 755,000 people were arrested for marijuana violations in 2003, 88 percent of them for simple possession. In Oakland, there were about 5, 000 marijuana arrests between 1999 and 2003.